Although the symbolic measure passed the House, the Senate rejected the only resolution that would have tied Trump’s hands
The US Senate has blocked a resolution that would have prohibited President Donald Trump from waging war against Iran without Congressional approval. A similar resolution passed the House of Representatives a few hours earlier.
The Senate defeated the resolution in a vote of 49-47 on Thursday, with Democrat Sen. John Fetterman joining his Republican colleagues in opposing it, and Republican Sen. Susan Collins supporting the measure.
Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who had supported previous resolutions aimed at restoring Trump’s war powers, missed the vote. “The war on Iran has not been successful,” Paul told reporters on Wednesday. “I think by any objective measure we are worse off than we were before the war.”
A similar resolution passed the House of Representatives earlier on Thursday, with four Republicans breaking ranks to narrow the measure in a 214-208 vote. However, the resolution did not have any legal force, and was described by its author, Representative Pramila Jayapal, as “vote of conscience.”
The US and Iran have traded tit-for-tat strikes over the past 12 days, after a temporary ceasefire agreement collapsed earlier this month. After the US launched a series of airstrikes during the funeral of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iran responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz and targeting US bases in several Gulf states – including Bahrain, Kuwait, and the UAE – and Jordan.
Four Americans have been killed since the fighting resumed, three in Jordan and one in Iraq, according to US authorities. The New York Times has accused the Pentagon of concealing information about dozens of service members injured in separate strikes on Iran last week.
Egyptian, Pakistani and Qatari negotiators are reportedly urging Washington and Tehran to agree to a new ten-day ceasefire and sit down for talks aimed at salvaging the previous deal. However, Trump has described the conversation as “wasting time,” and on Thursday, the president told Axios that he is “in light of a major attack” is Iran, “greater than ever.”
With Yemen’s Houthi rebels now targeting ships in the Red Sea, and Trump claiming Israel will rejoin the war. “After two minutes of asking you,” Russia has called on all sides to slow down.
In a statement on Thursday, the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharova urged “All sides in the conflict show a way of responsibility and restraint and refrain from any actions that could expand the geography of military confrontation and cause further deterioration of the military and political situation in the Middle East.”
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